Roster

About

Jeffrey Simpson

National Affairs Columnist, Globe & Mail

Bestselling Author, ‘Hot Air’ and ‘Chronic Condition’

Bio

Born in New York, Mr. Simpson came to Canada when he was 10 years old and eventually studied at the University of Toronto Schools, Queen’s University and the London School of Economics. From 1972-73, he received a parliamentary internship scholarship in Ottawa. A year later, he joined The Globe and Mail.

His career with the newspaper began at City Hall in Toronto with coverage of Quebec politics. In 1977, he became a member of the paper’s Ottawa bureau, and eighteen months later he was named The Globe and Mail’s Ottawa bureau chief. From 1981-1983, Jeffrey served as The Globe’s European correspondent based in London, England. He began writing his national affairs column in January, 1984.

Simpson has published multiple books — including Discipline of Power (1980); Spoils of Power (1988); Faultlines, Struggling for a Canadian Vision (1993); The Anxious Years (1996); Star-Spangled Canadians (2000); The Friendly Dictatorship: Reflections on Canadian Democracy (2001); Hot Air: Meeting Canada’s Climate Change Challenge (2007) and Chronic Condition (2012).

Millions of Canadians read his highly respected national affairs column in The Globe and Mail and watch his commentary on CBC Television news.

Simpson’s presentations are alive with the same unique and thought-provoking insight as his columns. His topics for discussion hover around health care, climate change, and international relations. With clarity and detail, he offers a concise interpretation of Canada and the world around us.

He also acts as senior fellow at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

“The most important story of my lifetime in journalism was whether the country would stay together”

TOPICS

Dragging Canada’s Health Care System into the 21st Century

Simpson meets health care head-on and explores the only four options we have to end this growing crisis: cuts in spending, tax increases, privatization, and reaping savings through increased efficiency.

He examines the tenets of the Medicare system that Canadians cling to so passionately. Here, he finds that many other countries have more extensive public health systems, and Canadian health care produces only average value for money. In fact, our rigid system for some health care needs and a costly system for other needs—drugs, dentistry, and home care—is really the worst of both worlds.

Hot Air: Fixing Canada’s Climate Change Catastrophe

Simpson provides an alarming description of the climate threat to our country, touching on the role of our politicians, industrialists and environmentalists.

Simpson lays out in convincing and easily understood terms the few simple policies that Canada must adopt right away in order to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next few decades, and shows how it can be done with minimal negative impacts.

State of the Nation: Canadian Politics

Drawing on his extensive knowledge as the Globe and Mail’s National Affairs Columnist, Simpson takes a look at the present state Canada finds itself in. Areas of coverage include the economy, business, foreign affairs and U.S. Relations.

International Canada: Seizing the Opportunity to be a Leader in the Global Arena

Simpson suggests that although Canada has a number of advantages in establishing strong relationships globally, we are falling short in several key areas on the international scene. He believes we are in danger of becoming too complacent, too inward looking, and too focused on domestic policy and federal-provincial issues.